herself. someone who has learned the hard way to cherish life's moments each and every one. >> it makes you realize how fragile your life is. you know, and that anybody can take it. in a moment's notice. the story for them, that's it. that's their life story. the final chapter has been written. for me, i get to keep going on. >> what would you call yourself? >> people have called me a survivor. i would call myself lucky. that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. man 1: you actually think that they read the wrong verdict. man 2: you feel so alone and hopeless. man 1: it's like a shot in your chest. craig melvin: despair to hope, darkness to light--

a fight for freedom. laura nirider: what happened to this teenager could happen to any one of our children. craig melvin: at 18, he was arrested for murder, adamant he was innocent. teenager could happen to anyone of our children. the mac at 18 he was arrested for murder, adamant he was ed innocent. so what could have possibly led to this? >> why would he confess to something he didn't do? >> why would he? what really happened during that police interrogation. >> i can't lie to you about this, but the officer is lying about lying. >> an extraordinary look inside of the interview room. >> this is one of the intense interrogations that i've ever seen. ever seen. how could you confess to a crime you didn't commit?

>> welcome to dateline. how could you confess to a crime you didn't commit? it seems to defy logic and common sense. advocates say it happens far more often than any of us realize. here is keith morrison with the interrogation. >> a freak snowstorm's mother the little town of the blue ridge mountains. february 19, 2003 just before 9:00 a.m. went to orono, virginia was unused to this. a piercing sound, a fire alarm. now the snowstorm was the last thing on the fire chief's mind. >> the alarm went off for a house fire with hostages possibly ramped -- trapped inside. >> the alarm is on a quiet

street, lined with starter homes. >> you are running a lot of things through your mind. who are the occupants you will have to rescue? >> the fire trucks raced to the home of a recently separated woman named anne charles. >> we were concentrating on getting up the steps and getting into those rooms that we were pretty sure we have victims. >> neighbors crowd in behind police barricades. one of them an 18-year-old who lived up the street with a single mom. an awkward kid, a bit immature for his age. he has strep throat that morning and was taking antibiotics, but nothing could keep him from this. his name was robert davis. >> everyone goes down to watch. we sat there and watch for about five minutes.

one of the fire department people asked us to go to a truck that was maybe 100 yards away to get them oxygen tanks. it felt good to help out. >> carrie greene who lived right next door sit beside robert, watch the fire, worried about the pretty young mother trapped in their, anne charles. >> she will come outside and play with the kids. we will talk here and there. she was a really nice person. >> something good, anne's two daughters escaped unharmed from their downstairs bedrooms. but that left anne and little thomas just three years old unaccounted for, somewhere upstairs. >> we put the fire out and started checking the bedroom for occupants. >> nothing good after that. upstairs firemen found little thomas on the floor beneath the window, dad of smoke inhalation. she gentry felt his way through

debris and lingering smoke to anne's room. >> i climbed over to the bombay and that is where we found a victim in the bunkmate. that person was secured in the bunkmate. both hands and both legs tied up. >> now that what an entirely different complexion on things. this wasn't just a fire. >> what did i tell you? head back he's up this is a crime scene. we basically extinguished the fire and left everything as is. >> then the horrific investigator took over. >> one thing that was out of place, there was a five gallon bucket sitting in the middle of the living room floor with an empty bottle of rubbing alcohol. it didn't look like it belonged there. >> upstairs scattered near the body he found three aerosol cans, quite possibly also accelerate.

all of that liquid condemning for murder. >> there was a blob of melted plastic consistent with a smoke detector laying on the floor. there was a battery, a nine volt battery that looked like it would go to a smoke detector in the sink. >> though someone had taken it out of the smoke detector? >> that is what it appeared to be. >> all the more shocking in a town where murder is exceedingly rare. >> it is not a common occurrence, it is our style of homicide. >> how does the hit you? >> you have a victim and you also have a child. the child always touches you in a different way. it is a three-year-old child. >> these things to touch personally, don't they? outside the curious onlookers or a beat behind. all they knew is anne charles

and her little boy were not more. >> it was devastating. i was in shock, especially about that little boy. i still didn't know what happened really. >> it wasn't long watching the silent basis stream in and out of that little house, a person couldn't help but put 2 and 2 together. >> it was very scary. >> right in the very neighborhood police would find their suspects. coming up ... >> they recovered a knife. >> two suspects, two suspects. >> it was supposed to be routine. >> where they telling the truth when dateline continues? datel? . all with the world's smallest and thinnest sensor. manage your diabetes with more confidence and lower your a1c. try it for free at freestylelibre.us.

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keith morrison (voiceover): at first, it was just. a rumor that spread around little crozet, virginia that february 2003. but pretty soon, everybody knew it was true. >> first it was just a rumor that wspread around little crozet, virginia. pretty soon everyone knew it was true. it wasn't any ordinary buyer robert davis witness. >> you hear about it in the grocery store or at the gas stations and stuff like that. >> it was clear that it was a murder? >> yes, sir. >> anne charles and her three- year-old thomas was there, corporately. >> this is probably one of the

more horrendous cases that i have worked on in my career. two larry couldn't give investigators too much to go on. a few small footprints outback. forget dna. any possibility of finding that was flushed away by fire hoses. >> i get word from the medical examiner's office they recovered a knife sticking in the woman's back. i went back to my photographs and sure enough it was in the middle of her back. >> so someone stabbed her, but who? firefighters tipped police that a brother slashed -- brother/sister duo across the street after watching the fire and claim to know the victim. robert davis and his friend kevin marsh knew them as aggressive troublemakers. >> people were afraid of them. they come to the hallway people would move out of the way and try not to be around them.

>> and a shy and awkward robert seem to be a favorite target. >> they would pick on him all the time. >> robbers that he tried to ignore it, but they knew his vulnerabilities. >> i try to keep my distance when i could and stay cordial whenever we were in close proximity. >> safer that way, said robert. in any case the texas paid attention to the fugett house with a large enough to march the pared down to police headquarters for questioning. rocky admitted he was there to rob the place. e place. she tried to say it was somebody detective giles interviewed jessica. >> she eventually acknowledged, she tried to say it was somebody else first. at some point she put herself

there. >> it was supposed to be routine, we find her purse, take her money and we leave. >> within rocky one-off strip, tied anne to the bat with duct tape and turned it into murder. >> who cut her throat? >> rocky. >> jessica told detective giles the murder weapons were a kitchen knife and a metal rod for bludgeoning which they stashed in a hole behind her house. >> we drove her out there and we walked the entire path until we got to the holes. that's it right there. lo and behold, we reached in and discovered those two items were there. >> what was that night -- lie? >> these are intimate details. >> so that was that. the story and the culprits,

except there was one more very significant detail offered up by both jessica and rocky, something the towels rumor mill failed to catch by the time kevin and robert went out a couple days later. >> we went bowling. we went out to eat. >> by that time it was after midnight, about time to go to bed. >> were sitting in the parking lot talking and laughing and all of a sudden multiple police cars will not. they order me out of the vehicle first. they get me walking backwards to them with my hands up. >> then, through the terror and confusion it dawned on kevin, it was not him they had come for. >> i see them getting robert out, kicking him by his feet and knocking him to the ground, ramming his face into the asphalt and putting him into the handcuffs. >> the story they told the police, they had accomplices when they murdered anne

charles. one was robert davis . >> coming up, now it would be robert davis's turn in the interrogation room when dateline continues. dateline continues.

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keith morrison (voiceover): by all accounts including his own robert davis was a mama's boy because of his childlike ways by all accounts, including his own, robert davis was a

mama's boy. because of his childlike ways perhaps or his learning disability. >> he is like me, he's got a kind heart and he is gullible. >> robbers seem to need his mother to protect them from the big, bad world when he's took care of her, medication of which tends to slur her speech. >> he is a big dude, he's a teddy bear. he also wanted to grow up and be in healthcare and nursing like i was. >> robert did get into trouble once over a petty theft and his learning disability landed him in a special school for several years. the good thing? a family acquaintance was a school resource police officer. he had known robert and his mom for years. robert trusted him. someone officers need, now a

detective, came looking for robert after the fire sandy told him without hesitation where he could find her son. >> i said is robert in trouble? he said he is in serious trouble. >> said he had no idea just how serious or what was about to happen in the parking lot. the mat guns pointed at you, you are wondering what is going on. i was scared. i was shaking. >> why robert? because the fugett siblings told police they had accomplices and he was one of them. another one was fought in the same night and interviewed. >> at the end we both looked at each other, this kid has no idea. he is clueless to what we are asking him. >> fell the fugett's had lied and the kid was eventually released. but robert? robert had a far different experience in the interview room and a different detective.

and there sitting across from you is randy sneed. you knew him? >> since i was 12 or 13. i was on a first name basis with him. i've known him for so long. >> why don't you tell me, robert what took place that night. >> i was at my house. >> at first robert swore that he was innocent. six hours later he had confessed to murder. murder. later that day, officer snead allowed robert to call his mother. i said, "robert, what did you say?" he said, "since they wanted to hear that, i told them fine." later that day officer sneed allowed robert to call his mother. >> i said robert, what did you say? he said since they wanted to hear that i told them fine. >> what did it feel like when you heard that from your son? >> i felt like i was going to

have a heart attack and die. >> around the neighborhood people who had known robert for years could not believe it. >> he was always polite and memorable. i knew robert was a follower. i still could not believe that robert was involved. >> yet the boy said it himself. >> why would he confess to something he didn't do? >> robbers mother could not afford an attorney so the state appointed one, steve rosenfield. what was your impression? >> robber was scared to death from the first meeting and forever. >> and dan robert told the attorney just about what you would expect an accused murder my say, he did not salve anybody. he wasn't even there. the only confess, he said, because he was so scared. >> did you push hard enough to find out whether or not he was

telling the truth? >> i think with the client tells me and do an independent evaluation based on what i learn. >> so he watched the tape of robert's confession which didn't look right to him. besides. >> there was no physical evidence at the crime scene to tie robert to the crime. >> but just as intriguing with this question. why would rocky and jessica include a kid like robert? >> the fugett siblings bullied robert mercilessly and he was terrified of them. surely he would not help them murder the neighbor lady. yet rocky fugett was going to tell the court just. >>'s lawyer advised me rocky wanted to get a favorable sentencing and was going to be testifying against robert. >> the big problems. rosenfield knew from long experience and a jury hearing the testimony and robert's confession was certainly

quebec's. robert was very probably get a life sentence, no parole. robbers only chance of ever getting out of prison was to agree to something called an alford plea. >> we told robert if you plead guilty under an alford plea you admit there is sufficient evidence to prove your guilt, but you do not admit that you are guilty. if it met accepting a 23 year prison sentence and also that he could never file an appeal. >> 37 years of practice and it is the strongest decision that i've made. >> at least it wasn't my. he was sentenced at 20 and would be free in his early 40s. >> the day that i was standing in front of the judge excepting that offered plea i was crying. just praying that one day hopefully the truth will come out that i wasn't there. >> the fugett's of what it the

death and also but got life without parole. and steve faithfully drove out to visit robert no i the only way to get him out was to persuade the virginia governor to issue a pardon. fat chance of that. >> it was a pretty big long shot of getting him out before the 23 years for which he was sentence. >> and then two years after robber wants to present rosenfield open the mail and found a letter from all people, rocky fugett. >> dear mr. rosenfield, i have some information about robert that i think could be awfully beneficial. you are welcome to come and visit me. >> snail mail, rest assured steve rosenfield drive to the prison was much quicker. >> coming up that interrogation will still be the key to the

case. >> he is lying about lying. >> when dateline continues. dat everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. will i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. icy hot. ice works fast. ♪♪ heat makes it last. feel the power of contrast therapy. ♪♪

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>> ukrainian president volodomyr zelenskyy announced saturday a bipartisan delegation of congressional lawmakers travel to ukraine to meet with him. congressman nichols said it was the first multi-date back on a mission for a congressional delegation since the start of the war. back here in the u.s. eight third victim of the collapse of the francis scott key bridge has been recovered. dive team say they found the body of a 38-year-old construction worker and notified maryland state police. now back to dateline. it was shocking. attorney voicsteve rosenfie was in for a big surprise when he arrived at rocky fugett's

prison. rocky wanted to find a sworn affidavit saying robber david was innocent and nothing to do with the murder. >> that was pretty powerful for him to do that considering his circumstances, nothing to gain. >> rocky's admission wasn't enough to undo the confession. and in seven years into robert's prison sentence rosenfield answered a phone call and there she was. the director of the center on wrongful convictions of youth at northwestern university's school of law. she is a leading expert in false confessions. she heard about the case and offered to help and help us understand what happened to robert as we watch the interrogation unfold. >> this is one of the most intense interrogations that i have ever seen.

you have these officers very close to robert, who is a big guy, pushed in the corner, increasing the pressure without even touching him. >> randy snee, a man the robert has long trusted begins the interview at 2:00 a.m., by which time robert has been awake 18 hours. again and again, more than 70 times robert insists he is innocent. nine times robert asked for a polygraph. polygraph. when you've got somebody in the interrogation room who offers to take a polygraph, that's a strong sign of innocence that should not be disregarded. keith morrison (voiceover): but snead's then-partner terry >> when you've got somebody in the e interrogation room who offers to take a polygraph that is a strong sign of innocence that should not be disregarded. >> they upped the ante, they have evidence, he says. they don't have any evidence,

although it is legal for police to lie in an interrogation. just after 3:00 a.m. robert asks for his medicine. he has to grow, he is also asthmatic. so asthmatic. robert has been awake for nearly 20 hours. 0 hours. more than a dozen times he says he's tired and needs sleep, and several times he tries to sleep on the cold floor. he says he is tired and that he needs sleep. several times he tries to sleep on the cold floor. at 5:17 a.m. for no explained reason they attached shackles to his

ankles. more than four hours into the interrogation randy snee tells robert he has more bad news, overwhelming evidence of robber skills. robber skills. and not only was that false-- there was no dna found in this case-- but the officer then goes on to say, "i can't >> not only was that false, there was no dna found in the case, the officer then goes on to say i cannot lie to you about this, robert. in fact he is lying about lying. >> he tells robert he faces leslie calls the ultimate punishment. he also says, falsely, that he's been talking to robber's mother on the phone.

>> i told your mom that i would try to keep you from the most ultimate punishment and i'm trying to do that and you are not helping me to help you. >> there you see a police officer suggesting to robert he's going to face death. you also see the officer very cleverly using robber's relationship with his mother. >> that is one robbers resolve begins to weaken. just before 7:00 a.m. five hours in robber begins to bargain. bargain. then hoping it might get him home to his mother, robert offers a story he hopes will satisfy snead. >> then, hoping that it might get them home robert offers a story he hopes will satisfy snee. satisfy snee.

then snead lies to robert again, this time about one of the murder weapons. >> and dance lead lies to robert again, this time about one of the murder weapons. mur. snead knows the weapon was really a metal rod. >> sleep knows the weapon was really a metal rod. >> robert has it wrong. jessica already confessed rocky clubbed anne charles . charles.

so, again, robert starts guessing. >> so again robber starts guessing. then snead asks robert where. >> dance need asks robert where? and again please correct them.

>> it was essentially the police is compassion and not robert. not robert. i am lying to you just so i can go home, which is exactly what juveniles who have falsely confessed say was their motivating factor for falsely confessing. >> i am lying to you just so that i can go home, which is eo exactly what juveniles who falsely confess say was a motivating factor. >> by 8 a.m., six hours after the interrogation begins randy sneed has his confession. s con when rosenfield delivered a clemency petition to the virginia governor he added volumes of evidence in support. and then as they waited for an answer. >> out of nowhere jessica sent

a dear mr. rosenfield letter, admitting to the throat cutting, the samples to the back and absolutely adamant robert had nothing to do with it whatsoever. >> so jessica's affidavit was sent off to the governor and everybody waited. and waited, and then on the governor's very last day in office more than nine years into robert sentence a decision. denied. rosenfield devastated drove to the prison to tell robert. >> robert and i hones and cried and it was probably about the most painful part of this process. >> robbers on the door to freedom slammed shut. but half a world away someone else was watching robert's case. could his opinion make a difference?

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keith morrison (voiceover): this is the coffeewood prison in mitchells, virginia, robert davis' home-- this and other places like it-- >> this is the coffee where prison in mitchells, virginia, robert davis is home for something like 40% of his life. every moment of those years dictated by one long night with officer randy sneed, the miserable and exhaustive in --

end of which robber said the words he cannot take back. >> most people would say i would never in 1 million years confess. >> or how could you be so stupid and not know? i was young. i was naove. i was scared. >> robert is not alone. there are people like him in situations like she is all around the country who confessed as teenagers to crimes they maybe didn't commit. in fact police departments in many other countries have banned or dispensed years ago with interrogation techniques still used in america. have the murder happened elsewhere for example in the united kingdom it is probable that he would've been brought in for questioning. he was named as a suspect, but the chances that he would've been charged or even interviewed for very long close to zero. >> the interview as it is on

the recording would not be legal in the uk and that evidence would have not been admitted into trial. >> 30 years i detective in the sussex community department internationally recognized for his work in interview techniques. when he was a rookie interrogation rules are much like they are in the u.s., but they are not anymore. what happened to precipitate these changes in the uk? >> the changes came about through problems. >> like a national scandal after a series of high profile false confessions including an arson murder case eerily similar to robert davis. >> the government is to get a whole review of the way prisoners were dealt with in custody. if the result, a complete overhaul of the system. every officer in the uk retrained to rigorous standards

that apply in every region of the country. strict rules put in place for suspect interviews, all interviews in serious cases video recorded. >> there are two cameras, one gives a head and shoulder shot. the idea is if it was shown in court it gives a clear picture of you. the other is a global view of the room, everyone in the room is shown in the picture. that is about showing exactly what happened. >> this was key. no more lying. in america it is legal for cops to lie to suspects, not here. could you go into this interview and say i have a certain specific piece of evidence and it tells me you are guilty if you don't? >> absolutely not. >> can you talk to a suspect as long as you want? >> no, only two hours and time -- at a time and you should take recognize brakes. >> and someone as little -- as

challenged as robert. >> they are entitled to a parent or a legal representative. >> when the rules were changed many veteran officers were not happy. they resisted. detective trevor bowles remembers it well. >> senior people thought this was a drew carney a piece of legislation that would prevent us from ever detecting anything ever again. that it was going to tie our hands behind our backs and we will be unable to work with it. they were wrong. >> very wrong. not only did false confessions not all but stop crime solving got better. >> detective race in respect to homicides in the uk are very high, up in the 90% mark. >> and along the way confessions, hallmark case solving in the u.s. became much

less important. >> we would not prosecute someone solely on a confession. if someone did make a confession we would try to cooperate what they said. >> is in a confession the strongest evidence you can get? >> not always. what confessions tend to do is shape confirmation bias. people then look for supporting evidence to support what is being said. >> so we asked him to watch with us the robert davis interrogation. avis interrogation. rst, so you just need to confirm what we know. >> what this guy's problem was if he was garrested last. what he is saying is that we believe the people arrested first so you just need to confirm what we know. that is clearly not a good approach for an investigator. n y through the interview, the clear requests for medication the time of day of the interview, the length of the interview, the use of leg irons

halfway through the interview, a clear request for medication and sleep at various points of the interview were all red flags. >> will you look at the whole thing is you did get that back and thought afterwards? >> the lifeblood of any account is reliability. the way this is done is you cannot vouch for the reliability. >> we asked for his opinion and he gave it to us. the confession was not believable. what we did not expect is what happened a few months later when this british detective spoke to steve rosenfield and offered to write virginia's governor, adding his support to robert davis's clemency petition, a petition i waited on the desk of a new governor. >> coming up strong words from the chief of police and the governor's office. the weight begins. weight begin. .

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conclusion. >> i have never been emotional in a presentation as i feel in this case. i have grown very close with robert. >> for years steve made his case for robert at legal conferences or to anyone who would listen. robert remained right where he was, in prison. during those same years we asked repeatedly for an interview with randy snee, the officer who took the confession. as close as we got was the county police chief. he wasn't in office was neat with a detective. you talk to him, what a sense of how he feels? >> i think yes and in the best interest and there wasn't a bit of malice. i think he had a very strong relationship with robert. >> but this was interesting, that she did not support the interrogation, not at all.

>> i will say i believe the confession is unreliable. >> once more the chief updated police methods when he took over to help prevent the kind of interrogation that ended up in roberts confession. as you look at it, what are things that would not be done? >> using terms like the ultimate punishment, the length of the interview. those kinds of things with the clearly not done today. >> cold comfort for robert davis who have been in prison going gone 11 years with a decade plus to go unless, there was a new governor in office now. so rosenfield renewed his appeal for clemency. he was well aware that it is highly -- tiny percentage of such petitions are ever granted.

as months went by it was not clear what if anything was happening. >> what is disturbing about the process is that it is secretive. >> but what he didn't know if this time it was different. the governor ordered a new investigation. just before christmas 2015 we were there when the call came from the governor's office. there it was, finally the words he had been hoping to hear year after year. robert davis was about to be set free. >> i am elated. just in time for the holiday. today is robert's mother's birthday. sandy, it is steve. set another plate for tonight's dinner. i'm going up to pick robert up. >> i think this'll be the last time i ever see this prison. >> amassed the final drive with

the news both have dreamed up for all those years. those year. i'm just so happy. if it wasn't for that man fighting for me right there, >> i am elated. words cannot describe it. i am so happy. if it wasn't for that man fighting for me right there i wouldn't be out right now. this is overwhelming right now. hello? sandy (on phere you at? i'm just getting ready to pull out. yeah. >> i am outside of the easenses man! i'm just getting ready to pull out. it is unreal, mom. this isn't a dream. i am leaving right now. >> that very night robert was together again with his mother, his brother and freedom. d free. he's home.

how does it feel out here? it feels great, man. keith morrison (voiceover): a few weeks later, we came to see robert here in his new apartment in charlottesville, virginia, >> how does it feel? >> it feels great. >> a few weeks later we came to see robert here at his new apartment, his very own apartment in which he tells us there is no room for bitterness. there is too much to do. >> not bad. how does it feel? >> it feels great. i haven't stopped smiling since i've come home. >> what are you planning to do? >> get a job and drive. i have this opportunity. i don't want to squander it. >> he's got a job working in a neighborhood deli. and he lives under the protective eye of the man who never stopped trying to prove his innocence and who hasn't stopped yet.

roberts pardon was conditional, meaning he has a parole officer, an ankle bracelet and still a record. >> this governor expressed to me that the door was open for a reconsideration toward an absolute pardon which would erase or expunge his conviction. >> on december 16, 2016 the governor did just that, granting robert davis a full pardon. just four months later robert's mother died in a car crash. she has set her greatest joy was seeing her son exonerated. it would take the state two years, the virginia lawmakers awarded davis nearly $600,000 in compensation for his wrongful conviction. laura believes there are untold others now languishing in american prisons who confessed under duress to something they did not do. >> slowly the stories are

beginning to make headlines. now eyes are beginning to open, questions are beginning to be asked around the country. that is what happened in robert davis's case. >> one not of your life made a heck of a difference. have you ever run into randy snee? >> if i were to see him walking down the street, i will probably keep walking. i don't really have nothing to say to him except for i told you that i was innocent. >> so he was, so he is. that is all for this episode. i am craig melvin. thank you for watching. n. thank you for watching. >> hello and welcome to the sunday edition of mornings or weekend. we have lots to get to. let's jump into some of the most important conversations we had